Silence vs. Sound Machines: Which helps YOU sleep happy?

There are many types of sleepers in the world: some toss, some turn, some snore; the list goes on and on. Today, we’re focusing on two specific types of sleepers: those who sleep in silence and those who need a little extra sound in order to relax. Some people can fall asleep in an eerie silence and aren’t fazed by the honk of a car or the squeak of an old house. For many others, sleeping in silence is distracting or even borderline terrifying To avoid restless nights due to the disruptive sounds of an unruly environment, many use television, music or noise machines to help them sleep. This made us wonder – how is it some need absolute silence and some need sound just to rest? The answer is simple: We’re all just unique sleepers and have different preferences for what allows us to sleep happy.

The Silent Sleeper

For those who prefer to sleep in silence, it could simply be because you don’t have a negative or stressful association with silence. You find it peaceful and ideal for your sleep health. A sound emerging from the darkness won’t keep you from falling asleep or scare you awake because, for whatever reason, you are just not worried about what’s going on in the night. Additional sounds from a TV or a machine may ultimately distract you from sleeping because the noise activates your brain instead of drowning out your thought process.

The Sound (Machine) Sleeper

On the other hand, you may find yourself staring at the ceiling in bed, made sleepless by everything you hear. From a dog barking outside to the shift of an old house, every sound triggers a new train of thought that keeps your brain active and interferes with the process of relaxing and falling asleep. To distract your brain from itself, you leave on the TV or use a sound machine to get some decent rest. We dove a little further into sleep machines to learn why white noise can be beneficial to a good night’s sleep.

It turns out sleep machines can do more than sidetrack your mind from a creaky old house. They can help decrease our brain’s craving for sensory input and can actually distract it from the sounds around us. Our brains are always on the lookout for stimulation and will pick up on anything that’s loud enough to grab its attention.So, when you jolt awake because you hear a car alarm, that’s your brain lighting up. White noise can provide just the right amount of volume and frequency to consistently hold the brain’s attention and tune out any sudden noises it would normally latch on to.

Ironically, sound machines essentially serve as anti-noise mechanisms. Picture it this way: When it’s silent in your bedroom while you’re trying to sleep, outside noises are much more obvious and your brain has nothing else to focus on. You hear the person in the apartment above you walking around and begin to wonder why they aren’t sleeping, what they’re doing and ultimately get annoyed you’re focusing on them instead of sleeping yourself. If you have a sound machine providing steady and consistent noise, you won’t be able to hear the footsteps above you and will be able to naturally drift into a peaceful sleep without distraction or delay.

There are many different ways to fall asleep. We could all bicker for hours about which allows for a more restful night of sleep, but that makes us tired. and we care about solving your sleep problems. So instead, maybe we should all just go take a nap…

About The Author

The Daily Dozers The Daily Dozers are the mattress experts behind The Daily Doze, pooling their knowledge to bring you all that you need to know about what’s right under your head (literally). The Daily Dozers are team members who have been embedded in the mattress industry for years, whether that’s at one of our more than 3,000 neighborhood stores, or in our hometown of Houston at BedQuarters. These product experts can answer any question you might have about your bed. From ‘what size mattress do I need for my room?’ to ‘how do I know if I need an adjustable base?’ – there’s no topic too tired for The Daily Dozers. Even better? The Daily Dozers work together with The Savvy Savers to make sure you’re getting the bed you want, at a price you can’t find anywhere else.

One thought on “Silence vs. Sound Machines: Which helps YOU sleep happy?”

Jennasays:

I’m desperate to find a way to get used to “white noise” when I sleep. I am a “silent sleeper”–I sleep best in dead silence, but my AC unit is very loud and wakes me up every time it kicks on. For some reason, it triggers my brain to wake me up, and am alert and fixated on the sound until it goes off again.( I’ve been sleeping with earplugs for about 8 years now, and not one brand of earplugs can drown out the AC sound.)Unfortunately, it is too hot to sleep without it in the summer. How can I trick my brain to associate this noise with positivity and not wake up from it anymore?